Chair



(No Model.)

.G. J. SHULTS.

CHAIR. No. 349,907 Patented Sept. 28, 1886.

WITNESSES:

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UNTTE STATES GEORGE J. SHULTS, OF AVOCA, NFAV YORK.

CHAIR.

ELECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 349,907, dated September 28, 1886.

Application filed January 15, 1886. Serial No. 189,747. (No modrl) T aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE J. SHULTS, of Avoca, in the county of Steuben and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Iu1- provement in Chairs, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention has reference to arm or easy chairs, rockers,and others, in which a pivoted back constructed of upper and lower sections jointed together and controlled by springs is used; and the invention consists in certain novel constructions and combinations of parts, substantially as hereinafter shown and described, and whereby a better support to the hollow or lower part of the back of the person is obtained.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 represents a partly broken or seetional front view of a chair embodying my invention, with the back of the chair in its normal position. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same upon the line a: x in Fig. 1, with the back of the chair in a like position; and Fig. 3 is a vertical section,in part, upon the line y y in Fig. 1, showing the chair-back in an extreme reclining position, or as thrown fully back. Fig. 4 is a side view, in part, showing a modified construction and application of certain springs used in the chair.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 1, 2,

and 3 of the drawings, A indicates the front posts of an arm or easy chair; B B, the back posts thereof; b, the seat rails or supports; (2, the usual rounds; C O, the arms, and D D the back, pivoted, as at e, to the rear posts, B, to provide for varying the inclination of said back to adapt it to different reclining positions. The fixed portions here enumerated, and which include all excepting the adjustable back, constitute what may be termed the frame of the chair.

The chair, including its adj ustable back, may either be upholstered or not, and the several parts of the chair may be made of any suitable material or materials. The pivoted back D D is self-adjusting, and has a spring action,forming an elastic support to the back of the person sitting in the chair. This is accomplished, not by making the chair-back itself elastic,

but by connecting it with the fixed frame or rear posts, B, by or through the intervention of springs, which will have the effect, when said back D D is relieved from pressure of a person reclining in the chair, of causing the back to resume its normal approximately-upright position, as shown in Fig. 2, but which, when pressure is applied to the back', as by a person reclining in the chair-,will admit of said back being inclined backwardly against the tension of the springs, or of having its backward inclination increased as desired, as shown in Fig. 3. These springs Eare made of springwire bent into coil or twisted form around the pivots 6, within recesses arranged, respectively, in the side arms of the back and the adjacent sides of the posts B, and so that the extended ends of each spring engage the one with the side arm of the back and the other with its adjacent post 13, as shown in the drawings. This arrangement of the springs between the main body or frame and side arms of the back of the chair protects the springs from all exposure or interference, and makes the chair equally as compact as if there were no springs.

The forward throw of the back D D by the springs which control it and its back adjustment may be limited by stops ff, arranged to travel in grooves g 9, said pins or stops and grooves being at any desired distance from the pivots e on opposite sides thereof, within the.

adjacent surfaces of the back and rear posts.

The back D D has its side arms constructed of independent sections, one above the other that is, of an upper main section, D, fitted to rock on the pivots e, and of a lower section, D, in jointed connection atits upper end with the lower end of the upper section, D, both side arms of the back being constructed alike and serving to give an articulated character to the sectionallyconstructed chair-back. The joints which thus connect the adjacent ends of the two sections D D are divided knuckle ones, as shown at h, one of the roundsz' of the back forming the joint-pin, so that they will not catch in the clothing when flexed, which the construction shown secures. By this ar ticulated construction of the back D D, with its lowerjointed section, D, arranged below the pivots e, on which the upper or main portion of the back rocks when the occupant of the chair throws himself into a reclining position, forcing the upper or main portion, D, of

IO tion of the persons back is better supported.

This is fully secured by making the stops f,

which work in the grooves g, reach their forward limit in advance of the limit in the backthrow of the upper section, D, of the back, as

I 5 controlled by the stops f and grooves y, if two sets of stops, ff, be used. Moreover,the groove g,which is suitably curved to provide for the lifting movement of the lower end of the section D when pressed backward, and the stop 20 f act as a guide to direct the movement ofthe lower section, D, of the yielding chair-back.

Fig. 4 represents the springs E as somewhat differently constructed and applied. Thus each spring is coiled around the end of the :15 back-round 2', which forms the joint-pin of the sections D D, and is inclosed by or under cover of said parts, as in the other figures of the drawings; but the two ends of said springs are turned, the one upward into the section D 0 and the other downward into the section D, as

shown by dotted lines in said Fig. 4.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a chair having a pivoted back composed of upper and lower sections jointed together and controlled by springs, as described, the combination, with the chair-frame, of the upper chair-back section, D, pivoted intermediately of its height to said frame, the lower chair-back section, D, jointed at its top to the bottom of the section D, and fitted to hang loose or pendent therefrom, and means, substantially as described, for directing its movement at its free lower ends, whereby said lower chair-back section is made to move bodily forward in an approximately-upright position, essentially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

2. The combination, with the rear posts, B,

GEORGE J. SHULTS.

Witnesses:,

CHRISTOPHER Fox, JOHN J. SHILL. 

